Family, friends mourn fire engineer found unconscious at station

Jan. 22, 2014

Updated Jan. 21, 2014 11:38 a.m.

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An Orange County Fire Authority honor guard salutes as mortuary staff transports the flag-draped body of engineer Greg Hennessey, a 27-year member of the department, into O'Connor Mortuary on Monday. Hennessey was found unconscious in his fire station, Station 45, Monday morning, according to officials. He was pronounced dead at Mission Hospital a short time later. JOSHUA SUDOCK, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Firefighter apparatus engineer Greg Hennessey is seen at the American Legion Post Veterans Day pancake breakfast at the Norman P. Murray Center on Nov. 11, 2012. Hennessey was found unconscious by crews at Fire Station 45 in Rancho Santa Margarita on Monday morning in full cardiac arrest. FILE PHOTO

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As is their custom, an OCFA honor guard will stand watch over the location of fallen engineer Greg Hennessey around the clock at O'Connor Mortuary in Laguna Hills until he is moved again. Fireman Danny Goodwin stands watch Monday. JOSHUA SUDOCK, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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As is their custom, an OCFA honor guard will stand watch over the location of fallen engineer Greg Hennessey around the clock at O'Connor Mortuary in Laguna Hills until he is moved again. Fireman Ryan Cummings stands watch Monday. JOSHUA SUDOCK, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

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Mortuary staff members take the flag-draped body of engineer Greg Hennessey, a 27-year member of the Orange County Fire Authority, into O'Connor Mortuary on Monday. JOSHUA SUDOCK, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

An Orange County Fire Authority honor guard salutes as mortuary staff transports the flag-draped body of engineer Greg Hennessey, a 27-year member of the department, into O'Connor Mortuary on Monday. Hennessey was found unconscious in his fire station, Station 45, Monday morning, according to officials. He was pronounced dead at Mission Hospital a short time later. JOSHUA SUDOCK, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

He was a volunteer firefighter in New York, but tried to leave the profession when his wife told him she was scared. He began working at JC Penney after the family moved to California.

But it didn’t take long before Hennessey realized what his calling was.

“He just wasn’t happy,” his wife, Deanna Hennessey, said Monday. “He got involved again, and within a year he was a firefighter again.”

For the next 24 years, he worked for the Orange County Fire Authority until his career, and life, suddenly ended Monday morning.

Hennessey was working a shift at Station 45, 30131 Aventura, when he was found unconscious by his crew at 9:40 a.m., Capt. Steve Concialdi said. Members of the crew performed CPR and then took him to Mission Hospital.

He was pronounced dead at 10:20 a.m. He was 49.

“Today we lost a valuable family member,” Fire Chief Keith Richter said Monday. “Greg was a respected engineer and indispensable mentor to the young lives that he helped.”

Hennessey was an apparatus engineer, driving the firetruck in Rancho Santa Margarita. He also worked as an adviser for fire Explorers in Rancho Santa Margarita and Mission Viejo, mentoring teenagers who were thinking about being firefighters, Fire Authority spokeswoman Lynette Round said.

“He wasn’t one to garner a lot of attention, he was really behind the scenes,” she said.

He worked as a mentor for aspiring firefighters for the past eight years, Concialdi said, and also taught in the apparatus engineer academy.

“That was a passion of his,” he said. “He was committed to teaching new firefighters.”

Hennessey began his career with OCFA in 1990, where he worked as a firefighter for 11 years.

In 2001, he was promoted to engineer.

“He was probably one of the most conscientious firefighters I’ve ever met, very, very excellent and competent at his job, well-liked by the firefighters, really a leader among firefighters in the OCFA,” said Division Chief Greg McKeown, who attended the fire academy in Rancho Santa Margarita with Hennessey in 1990.

“It’s definitely a blow to all of us because it was very unexpected,” he said.

At his Trabuco Canyon home, Hennessey is remembered as a caring father and a neighbor.

Donna Dipietrantonio, who lives across from the Hennesseys on High Country Drive, said the family supported her when she lost her husband.

“(Greg Hennessey) always kept an eye when I wasn’t home,” Dipietrantonio said. “He and his family invited me to their Christmas, Thanksgiving and birthday parties, whenever there were celebratory occasions. He was a really good friend, always willing to help me.”

Deanna Hennessey said her husband always wished to be remembered as a “simple man,” who treasured basic things in life and lived for his family.

“I’m just numb right now,” she said. “It’s hard.”

Greg Hennessey is survived by his wife and sons Ryan, 22, and Brandon, 19, according to a statement from the Fire Authority.

Hennessey, as were his two sons, was an Eagle Scout, Concialdi said.

“We are assisting the Hennessey family during this difficult time, and appreciate the support from those around us,” Richter said in the statement.

Officials said information about funeral services will be announced when it becomes available.

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